PlayStation2 - game suggestions for a newbie!

and omg singstar!!

GTA3 & Vice city
pro evo 1 & 3
tiger woods 2003
NBA 2004 (or 3, can't remember)
Madden 02
(yes there is a theme here)
some cheapo baseball thing which is odd and quite Japanese
gran turismo 2 and 3
secret weapons over Normandy
a coupkle of tony hawks games

I'll see what else I can remember

hmm... now i'm thinking that i'll keep the console for a while, since it just collects dust here at the office (we did a big project for Sony and got it free, with a game called 'The Getaway' which looks cool cos you can drive recklessly around London). of course knowing my history with games, i should probably limit this experiment to a weekend, or i will wind up losing a lot of sleep/missing work/etc...

my recommendation would be SSX Tricky (Tricky is probably easier and flashier than ssx1 and friendlier than ssx3). pick-up-and-play snowboarding, huge and varied tracks, smoooth and breathtakingly fast.

a secondary question: is there a ps2 equivalent to mario party? one of those compendiums of lots of little 5 minute party games? i think i saw one once with an impossible japanese name...

Was the big yellow monkey the one with toothache where you had to knock them out with the frisbee?

(x-post)

it's OK - the gameplay isn't really amazing, the actual game bit is very linear - but the drama of it is impressive (it's got an actual plot and everything) and there are moments of suspense etc when you play (and it's just hard enough so that you don't complete it in one day)

p.s. the london representation is actually slightly disappointing - all the mainstreets are really accurate but if you want to say go down a sideroad off oxford street they just don't exist!!! (i.e. none of your wardour street hanway road etc.) and more annoyingly it cuts off just before my old work place (on hampstead road) when i first got it. but otherwise it's really cool! esp driving into waterloo.

Only as difficult as the originals, right? I would probably just play 2 & 3 over and over, since I haven't tried many of the later games and MM1 is clearly not meant to be beaten by human thumbs.

(possible rentals)
spiderman2, hulk, indiana jones, some batman game

If you can find Katamari Damacy or Alien Hominid, rent those.

!!!

!!!

Spiderman 2 is good fun for a rental because:

. once you get the hang of it, swinging around the city really feels as graceful and free as the films made it look.
. the voiceover/instructions, and the hint nuggets all over the city, are voiced by Bruce Campbell!

Transformers! Nobody has mentioned Transformers! TRANSFORMERS!!

my uncle and my 12 year old cousin (female) just got a PS2....

also, Rez, Dark Cloud 2, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Psychonauts, etc etc etc

If you can find an old game called Rez, it's a huge cult favorite (essentially: techno-based running-down-a-hallway weirdness) but it's out of print I think. I assume you got both Katamari games. Finally, I share your general disinterest in first-person shooters, but you really ought to make an exception for Resident Evil 4, which is astonishing, though you probably shouldn't play it when the kid's awake, because it's genuinely terrifying.

RE4 is amazing. I haven't even put Katamari in yet (though I've heard that's great too).

Ok i own and am now thoroughly bored with:

Gran Turismo 4
Katamari Damacy
Shadow the Colossus
GTA: San Andreas
Lego Star Wars 1 & 2
God of War 1 & 2

waht next??

kinda feeling something with guns right now

ghost in the shell

it's a ps1 game but i have never played any other shooty game that comes close (not that that's saying much).. ff to about the 3:20 mark in that video

Best PS2 games of 2007 IMO (do not read if you hate RPGs cuz that's mostly all that comes out anymore):

1. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3
2. Odin Sphere
3. Ar tonelico :Melody of Elemia
4. GrimGrimoire
5. Rogue Galaxy
6. Tomb Raider Anniversary
7. Wild ARMs 5

And of course GoWII which you already played. Something with guns? Resident Evil 4 or Killer7. Persona 3 has guns but you just use them to shoot yourself in the head over and over and over and over. Wild ARMs has guns too, of course. If it's FPS you want, time to get a 360 and BioShock. There's no competition for it on PS2, and there's Halo 3 coming at the end of the month. The best PS2 FPS are probably the TimeSplitters and Red Faction series, Medal of Honor Frontline and Black, but I can't say I've spent much time with any of them. Metal Gear Solid games have guns, but they're mostly just there in case you suck at the game and are always getting caught until you get to a boss.

Fuck it, every game on my list has guns in some way except for Odin Sphere and GrimGrimoire, which have fairies with crossbows.

Guitar Hero 1
Burnout 3
Tekken 5
Viewtiful Joe
Psychonauts
Gradius 5
Metal Slug Anthology

is tomb raider anniversary actually any good? tr ii was the last one i finished, just couldn't get into the others

Beyond Good and Evil, Disgaea, Gregory Horror Show. All quality games that sold next to nothing.

TR Anniversary is the first game remade by the guys who did TR Legend. So, you get the original Tomb Raider story and locations without the broken controls and crappy graphics. Tons of stuff added to those levels, so you get a good mix of "Hey, I remember this part" and "Whoa, that wasn't there before."

oh boy that does sound good

the first one had a kind of purity to it (trans: NO DIRTY HUMANGS!!) that was never topped

hopefully they improved the ending?? (i.e. slide down a tunnel.. message appears, "you have won" - or something like that)

Psychonauts is actually pretty good even though I never finished it. Stupid meat circus (END OF SPOILER)

i have read reviews of tr anniversary and i'm less enthusiastic now that i've learned the t-rex is INTRODUCED WITH A CUT-SCENE!!?? ARRGHH

also, fuck a grappling hook

ico gets closest to the spirit of the original tomb raider than anything else i've played - vast cavernous spaces, terrible and thrilling aloneness, consistent physics that allow you to suss out quickly what can and can't be done, and how to do it

You don't use the grappling hook all that much in TRA. Still mostly jumpy jumpy, grabby grabby, climby climby. Yeah there is some God of War QTE nonsense. Check it out anyway.

also, fuck a grappling hook

-- Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 4 September 2007 12:18 (Tuesday, 4 September 2007 12:18)

Also fuck MARKING SPOILERS obviously :(

every review mentions that, it's part of her equipment!

I meant the bit about the T-Rex and the end of the original.

haha oh

i didn't think an 11-year-old game could be spoiled! but sorry about the t-rex thing in the remake - it just was such a massive disappointment to read that i thought it was better to know in advance. sorry though.

I suppose that just because it's old it does feel safe to talk about. Sadly no, I will struggle on and try to enjoy it in spite of your evil actions :)